The Silver Wizard
Reignite Your Spark • Reclaim Your Life • Regain Your Purpose
Kind Words
Dr. Douglas Black and Dr. Noel Power
Hamilton Small Animal Veterinary Centre
ENDORSEMENT BY: Matt Lavars
The Coaching Institute
"From my side I want to thank you for the time spent with me on the 6 free coaching lessons. I have gained a lot with your help. I have had coaching before an on every occasion we get to address certain points in my life.
With your coaching I learned that it is OK to let the past go. I have found peace in my surrounding. I have also learned how to get the reigns on my life and my personal life has gained with this.
I am more systematic and have started to make big changes in my own life. I have learned to set goals and how to achieve them.
On a personal side I have started working on my health. I have started looking at what I am eating. The weather these days were not helping my walking but at least I could start losing weight. This morning I was down by 7kg. I am still motivated and looking forward to losing another 10kg this year.
Thanks for all your help.
I know life has pushed you in a different path than what you probably planned but I believe there is a bigger force behind this."
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Jan Viljoen - Financial Advisor, Papamoa New Zealand
“I have had my own consulting business for the last 17 years and in working with my clients, I was usually the one asking the questions. My coaching sessions with Larry, whom I have the fortune of knowing professionally for many years, was a great experience. The process Larry went through and the questions he posed, got me to think about myself, my beliefs and the decisions I was making about my own life and the direction I was taking.
Everyone needs a coach and working with Larry was fantastic.
Through discussion and his insights, he changed my perspectives and beliefs that for too long, had driven my behaviour. I would highly recommend working with Larry, he has a wealth of knowledge and personal experience, and as a coach he walks the talk and I am confident that we will have a positive impact on your life”.
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Iain Johnston - Author of "The Fixer - Managing in the Middle"
Johannesburg, South Africa
"I had the pleasure of working with Dr van Niekerk since 2001, in a non-clinical relationship.
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I met Dr van Niekerk at a public talk I was giving on Leadership and Strategy. Soon after that we connected to offer the Veterinary fraternity in Johannesburg a way to enhance their managerial skills, and so develop their practices. The focus was limited to those practices offering services to companion pets.
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At the initial meeting, we enrolled 22 veterinarians in the non-profit, the Institute of Veterinary Practice Development (IVPD). Dr van Niekerk displayed his foresight and drive in developing this organization into one with over 170-member hospitals in Sub-Saharan Africa. I played a secondary leadership role in the organization until 2009.
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The IVPD not only provided professional practice input, but also managed to unite the various practices to give them greater financial options adding materially to their individual practices.
IVPD was driven relentless by Dr van Niekerk in addition to his various professional commitments. His creativity, ingenuity and commitment are a truly rare phenomenon. I consult to medium and large companies in 14 countries, and have nowhere come across such exceptional ability focused on any extra-professional endeavour as displayed by Dr van Niekerk."
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Ian Mann - Gateways Business Consultants
Author of "The Fixer - Managing the Middle"
"Dr. Larry has not only changed my career perspective as a veterinarian, but also my understanding of who I am as a person. I believe that compassion fatigue and imposter syndrome are rampant phenomena within the veterinary industry.
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When these states arise, they can cloud your decision-making and shatter your confidence as a professional. Without dedicated professionals like Dr. Larry who understands the profession, as well as the characteristics of individuals who work within it, there may never be such a unique platform for professional and personal development for veterinarians. He puts a lot of effort into creating a supportive environment for professionals.
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My sessions with Dr. Larry have brought me personal development that I can recognize, control and harness on a daily basis.
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Our sessions are very productive because he always asks the right questions that evoke self-realization. They are also very casual and humorous.
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I am grateful for having someone as professional yet caring and down to earth to talk to and cannot recommend him highly enough as a career and life coach.
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Dr Janani Nukalan - Veterinarian
Dr. Jamie Wong
Dr. Marc Herrmann
I feel truly fortunate to have worked with Dr. Larry during my first few months in practice. As a young Asian female entering the veterinary industry, I had felt the effects of imposter syndrome and anxiety quite heavily.
My initial discussion with Dr. Larry was so relaxed and comfortable. Within our hour and a half chat, I had learned a significant amount about myself and the ways I had been ineffectively communicating. I had felt a crucial shift in mindset quickly after our initial discussion and was lucky to have continued to work with Dr. Larry through his 6-hour personal coaching session.
Dr. Larry’s ability to connect with people is one of his superpowers. Prior to our session, I had been struggling to feel comfortable in a new environment of contrasting personality types. In a short space of time, I had felt a dramatic change surrounding my anxiety at work and everyday life. He had helped me realize my ineffective strategies in my mindset and behavior. I know that this would have taken me years to work through myself, had it not been for Dr. Larry's influence and techniques through his sessions.
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I would highly recommend Dr. Larry and his services to any new grads facing similar struggles in any fast-paced or high-pressure profession. The decision to continue from his pro bono coaching session is one that has made a big impact. Although the first steps may be intimidating, it is worth investing in yourself and making a difference to become the ultimate you with Dr. Larry.​
Dr. Jamie Wong - Veterinarian
Life has certainly changed since I started working with Larry 6 months ago. I was hoping for Larry to be some sort of guru, to tell me how to succeed - meet me at the beach 4 am, come ready to work, kind of deal. This didn’t happen. Instead, what I got from Larry was exposure to the world of how people think. With just three sessions and some thinking time in between, I was able to start identifying my drivers, the things that made the world go around for me. With these in place, I was able to start making changes in my life towards creating my “Ideal Day”.
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Since then, my work and living arrangements have changed and I am able to approach decision making in a whole different way. I am starting to understand how myself and others think and react to situations and can therefore work alongside them more efficiently. I am starting to be able to take a much more active role in the driving seat of my life, directing it rather than being a passenger.
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Don’t expect Larry to tell you how to change. Expect to be shown how to help yourself. The latter is much more powerful. If all that can happen in three sessions, what can happen over years of learning? Let’s find out…
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Dr. Marc Herrmann - Veterinarian
Jennifer Tseng
Dr Larry truly delivers. He really opened my eyes and shifted my perspective on my life and the world in a way beyond what I could’ve imagined. I met Larry at the end of my second year as a new graduate small animal vet. It was easy to share with him the career and life challenges I was facing. Whilst he not only shared with me his wisdom, Larry explained the invaluable lessons I had learnt as well as reminded me of how great it was to be a clinical vet. He allowed me to pave the way back to YBP (Your Big Picture) - the ultimate reason why I became a vet in the first place. Larry has a way of helping you identify what you already have in your toolbox and jumpstarting you so you can get back on the path of making your goals and “ideal day”, a reality. I lost touch with Larry over the pandemic as it really disrupted my life and plans - but Larry’s lessons and guidance remained ingrained. And now, almost three years later, I have solidly made it back onto the path I was always meant to be on. My mind is clear and my ideas are coming so quickly I have to use Siri to jot them all down! I’m passionate about training and behaviour, and I liken my state of mind and motivation to our pets when they are fully engaged in “learning mode”. The last time I had felt this way consistently was during the weeks of my sessions with Larry. It felt right to get back in touch to really thank him for all he’s done for me so far, within such a short time, all those years ago! Larry’s service is invaluable - that wizard knows just how to help you become who you’re truly meant to be.​
Jennifer Tseng
Shesta Shwanti Raju
I got the opportunity to get to know about Dr Larry’s work as a part of my recruitment process. Being a Pacific Islander from Fiji, I was never exposed to such assessments. It was something very new to me and initially it did make me slightly nervous.
After attempting the questions, the first stage of assessment, I received a 21-page document containing the results from the questionnaire. It took me a while to read and process the information. As a 25-year old there seemed to be a lot more to me than what I made myself to believe. Some of which were obviously taught to us to be bad traits. Thus, I realised I was simply suppressing them within myself or was ignorant to them. That is when I figured in order to move forward and grow, one must learn and understand about themself first before they can start working on improving.
My first session with Dr Larry was early in the morning. He walked me through the information very smoothly and made me feel very comfortable that for once it felt like I know him well enough to be comfortable to express myself. There was no holding back, I could even speak about my deepest fears without hesitation. As an individual, I have always thought of myself as someone that has acquired sufficient qualities to thrive. However, during my first session with Dr Larry I seemed to be mistaken. To maximize and reach true potentials, we sometimes have to see the world from a different perspective and go beyond our limitations.
Just in one session he has helped me work on my emotions that I seemed to have buried deep inside of me and which may have been holding me back from a lot of greater things. Working with Dr Larry helped me professionally and in my personal life as well. Trying to survive the compulsion of life, we turn to forget to pay attention and focus on ourselves, which infact can make life so much easier. I feel content having gone through this exercise and express my deep gratitude towards Dr Larry.
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Shesta Shwanti Raju
Thank you, Larry for the wonderful coaching experience over the last 7 weeks. I have been with ICI for 12 months inspired by other people’s coaching journey and feeling I had a long way to go match any of that.
Working with you I found that I can in fact be a coach and I can work through blocks that were slowing me down. I felt good after each of our coaching sessions knowing that I was making progress, that I could see the blocks, name and accept them as real and act on them. I found your coaching inspiring – your easy manner to establish rapport, the depth of your coaching skills and methods and you gave me the insight into how to combine your professional pride with coaching excellence. Precisely what I needed to move forward.
I would recommend your professional service to any other professional struggling to shine personally and through their business, helping them grow.
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Thank you very much.
Barbara Kobylinksi
Vanessa Flagel